The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms
by Shinigami 42-42-564
Summary: After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school...together.
1. Prolongation of the Past

**Summary:** After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school. Now they have to survive the weekend, help eachother out, and maybe even rebuild their friendship into what it should've been.

Rating: T (for language, high school humor, and a little bit of blood)  
Genre: Romance/Drama/High School Life  
Disclaimer: All CLAMP baby

**A/n: **I was reading a fic the other day and it really inspired me to write this short story about two lives changed during once event. I found the story so cute and I decided to make one for myself. This fic wont be long, maybe 4-5 short chapters only. Please review!

**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms**  
By: Shinigami-42-42-564's Friend  
**Chapter One:  
**Prolongation of the Past

* * *

Syaoran pulled on his shirt and strapped on his uniform tie. It was his daily routine before school. First, he would snooze his alarm twice, then eventually, if he didn't snooze it the third time, he would take his short shower and brush his teeth while staring at his tired morning face in the mirror. After it all was spending twenty minutes putting on his school uniform—where fifteen of those twenty minutes were trying to figure out how to put on his tie. Handling ties for more than six years, he'd expected to be able to put one on easily, but he never did.

Finally, when he finished fixing his tie, he let out a small quiet curse, then said to himself, "Another Friday . . . finally."

He grabbed his school bag on his bed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. Wei, his butler, was already up making his regular cup of coffee. The old man sat down and stirred sugar as he blew on it.

"What's the forecast today?" asked Syaoran. "Anything special?"

"Tornado warning." Said Wei after a sip of his coffee. "And storming all weekend starting tonight."

"A tornado?"

Wei nodded and took another sip from his coffee. "Not today, but for the weekend. Probably tomorrow or Sunday—they said it's going to be an F-4."

"F-4?" Syaoran repeated, shocked to hear the wrath that mother nature would bring upon soon. The F-4 was the second biggest tornado rating—second only to the F-5. Tomoeda was never a place to witness any natural disaster. Heavy rain from time to time was the worst he's ever experienced, but now he was almost memorized to hear that he would soon have to see a tornado. "But Tomoeda's never had anything like this before."

"Well," Wei got up and made his way around the kitchen to poor himself another cup of coffee. "This is Mother Nature we're talking about, you just don't know what she'll bring us."

Syaoran shrugged and gave an unwilling nod. "I guess."

"So, when are you going to school? It started half an hour ago."

Syaoran's eyes widened as if he had just struck gold. He looked up at the kitchen clock and saw that Wei was right. With haste, Syaoran spun and quickly made his way to the door. "Why?" he screamed while putting on his shoes.

"You snooze, you lo—" Before Wei was able to finish, Syaoran had already slammed the door shut behind him.

Sprinting down the sidewalk, Syaoran ignored his neighbor's morning greeting. He wanted to answer back, but he didn't want to waste the energy of say, "Good morning." He turned a corner and ran up his daily hill. It was a steep hill, usually he'd get tired after walking up it, and one would expect him to be tired running up it, but him being late only accelerated his energy to past his maximum potential. When he got to the top of the hill, sweat ran down his forehead and neck, but he continued to sprint heavily.

He turned another corner and this time came to a red streetlight. "No!" he screamed. As cars rushed by for the morning traffic, Syaoran swallowed hard and got rid of any dangerous thoughts in him, then sprinted forward through traffic. Horns from cars sounded loudly as Syaoran tried avoiding them. Once, he spun around to stop as a car had almost hit him, but that was the only _close_ encounter he had.

Just as his school appeared in sight, he heard sirens behind him ring. He looked back and saw flashing red and blue lights on top of a car. Being smart, he stopped and reached for the school—he could feel the building from afar, but just couldn't reach.

As a cop got out of his car, Syaoran could feel the warmth of nervousness and fear strike his face. He felt numb and wanted to fall over.

"Kid, do you know why I . . . _pulled_ you over?" the cop asked.

Slowly, Syaoran turned and gave the cop a smile. "Bec—" before he finished, Syaoran found himself sprinting away towards the school. _What am I doing? Stop . . . stop . . . stop running_!

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

"Replace this with X, then after that, you—"

Sakura mentally shut her ears off. The only thing she heard from her math teacher were mumbles that not even the person with the biggest ears could understand. He rested her head on the palm of her hand as her elbow stood on her deck. She understood math—completely. Every test, every quiz she was given to take, she aced it all. She was told and urged to move up into the advanced level, but she chose to stay in the general class. Why? Not even she knew.

The door of the room slid open and quickly, the class's attention switched over. Syaoran stood cuffed behind his back with the cop standing directly behind him. Sakura, though surprised, enjoyed what she saw. She almost wanted to stand up and laugh, but fought against the urge. She silently admitted to her than it was the hardest thing she had ever done.

Grass and dirt filthed all around Syaoran's school attire, his tie was loose and crooked and his hair was messy like he had just gotten up from bed.

"My _god_ Li, what'd you do?" the sensei asked, shocked to see what stood in front of him.

"I caught this kid smoking meth behind school grounds." The cop said. Syaoran twitched and turned around, not believing what he had just heard. The whole class gave a 'woah!' cry. Soon, chatter began. The cop laughed and added, "Nah, I was just kidding—He sprinted across the intersection during a red light. Almost got himself killed. I tried talking to him, but then he ran away."

The class erupted in laughter, even Sakura took the opportunity to not be noticed and laughed along with the class.

Syaoran was uncuffed, the cop gave Syaoran a small warning then left, sliding the door behind him.

"Well, Li-kun." Sensei started. "I can't really do anything about this _incident_ here, but since this is your third tardy this month, I'm going to have to give you an after school detention."

Syaoran sighed. "That's fine." Detention was a small matter. Really, Syaoran didn't mind detention at all—it was his third detention this year. It found it as a time to relax and get away from things. The only thing _bad_ about it was that it went _bad_ on his record.

Tomoeda's High School Academy was the biggest high school in the district. It only had two floors, but it was longer than three American football fields going both ways. At the front gates of the school was a fountain that never stopped running, even during the winter, it would freeze and give photographers something to cheer for.

As the class quieted down, Syaoran took his seat next to the window, directly behind Sakura. He dropped his back on the ground and stared aimlessly out the window.

"Smoking meth, 'ey Li-kun?" said Sakura with a fowl look.

Syaoran only stared at her, then slowly said, "Shut up."

Smiling, Sakura continued her rant upon Syaoran. "Don't you ever pay attention?" she said. Her voice did not sound of caring at all. "That stuff can kill you—not that I would mind, I mean, it's your life here."

"Speaking of paying attention," Syaoran held his hands together at nose-high level. "Why don't you start?"

Sakura ignored his statement and stuck her tongue out at him. She turned around with a victorious feeling and restarted her nap in class. But it didn't last long, not even a few seconds. Syaoran heard mumbles coming from Syaoran, he tried to disguise it with a cough, but Sakura heard what he said well: "Flat-chest."

She grabbed the math textbook on her deck and robustly swung it back behind her. Timing it correctly, she let go of the book and watched as it swung corner first into the nose of Syaoran. He flew back on contact and almost off his chair; the only thing that helped him back up was the back of his head hitting hard against the edge of the desk behind him.

Holding his nose with both of his hands, Syaoran felt blood drizzle down from his burning nostrils. He shut his eyes at the pain and shouted, "Bit—"

Sakura interrupted him before he was able to finish his curse. "Take _it_ back!" she shouted.

"Not after _this_!" yelled Syaoran. His hands cupping his nose and half his mouth made his voice deep and hollow sounding.

"Sensei," one of the students across the room yelled. "Their at it again."

The sensei stopped what he was doing on the bored and gave a long sigh. It wasn't the first time he found Sakura and Syaoran having a brutal fight in his class, and he was sure that it wouldn't be the last.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

"After school detention?" Tomoyo repeated while walking Sakura to her locker.

"Yes! Can you believe it?" shouted Sakura.

Tomoyo shrugged. "Well, you _did_ throw a three pound textbook at him."

When they reached Sakura's locker, Tomoyo stood aside as Sakura tried opening her lock. She tried twice and failed miserably, anger getting to her like it was starting to infect the way she thought. For a moment, she couldn't remember what her combination was. But eventually, she managed to get it open, only to throw her blood covered textbook in it.

"Still, that bastard deserved it!" she shouted. "I can take his insults, but when he has to say something about the way I look—I'm only a sophomore, I have time to grow . . . right, Tomoyo-chan?"

Tomoyo sighed. "What happened to the good days, when you two were such close friends?"

Sakura closed her locker with a grimace. "That was the first grade and let's not remind me of back then, that was _years_ ago."

"I know, I know." Tomoyo said with nods. "But still, it would be nice if you two can get along _somehow_."

"That'll never happen." Sakura closed her eyes and began walking towards her next class. "There's no way I'll be even close to friends with him ever since _that_ day."

Tomoyo sighed again, this time longer. _It was worth a try._ "But I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"Like you would know."

"Didn't he give you a teddy bear?"

Sakura sighed and blew a string of hair out of her eyes. She remembered the bear well. It was a plush dark brown bear with frizzy ears. It had on a red bowtie that didn't match it at all. Syaoran gave it to her the day her mother passed away. It was only a few weeks later when _it_ happened. Sakura gave the bear back and, ever since that day, never saw it again. Thinking back at the bear made Sakura glower. But then the thought of Syaoran came up; she shook her head and exhaled to the side.

"Yeah," she said, "But that was in the first grade! I'm sure he's forgotten about it anyways."

A chuckle rose from Tomoyo as the two continued up to the second floor of the school. When she looked at Sakura, she could see that the frown still stuck. "You're so dense, Sakura-chan. But you amaze me so much: You've been coping with this for such a long time, you get to sleep in class and still get top grades."

Sakura took in Tomoyo's opaque words of wisdom with a perplexed smiled. "What're you trying to say?"

"Ever think about what your life might've been if you two never argued?"

Sakura gave herself a moment to think, but slowly shrugged. "I don't know." She said shaking her head, "and I don't plan on thinking about it _now_. I have to go enjoy my last hour of class before spending another hour after school." She gave a sigh and then parted in her own way.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

The detention room was towards the opposite end of the school's front gate. Walking casually would take almost ten minutes to get to the other side—one of the few reasons of why the High School allowed twenty minute passing times in between class.

As the school cleared out at the end of the day, so did the teachers. Only a janitor and needed teachers—detention sitters, kitchen staff, and principles—stayed after longer, but they only stayed for a mere hour.

When Syaoran got to the detention room, the sitter sat quietly at his desk reading a newspaper. He caught Syaoran at the corner of his eyes and lowered his paper down to his chest. "Li, Syaoran-kun I presume." He said.

Syaoran nodded and took a front corner seat across the room—the farthest seat from the door.

"I hope you'll enjoy your next hour here, because I sure as hell wont."

Resting his head on the table, Syaoran said, "I'm sorry to take your time away from home." A false expression of regret. He really didn't care about a teacher's life at all. From what he's known, teachers were taught to have no feelings towards students. They felt no shame, or pity. Syaoran learned to adapt to it and show know feelings towards teachers.

Syaoran didn't move, but he could easily feel a certain irky presence run up on him. He shut his eyes and ignored the presence as if it had never existed. His arms were crossed on the table and his head softly lay on top.

"Kinomoto, Sakura-kun?"

"Hai."

Sakura saw Syaoran at the far corner. She knew that her existence was felt, and she knew that he was only trying to ignore her. Not wanting to worsen her current situation in detention, she sat at the first desk she saw, afar from Syaoran.

She threw her school bag onto the floor and took her seat. Like Syaoran, she got into her comfort position and rested her head. Before long, after closing her eyes, Sakura dozed into another in-class sleep.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

As her eyes started to slowly open, her vision was blurred. The voice she heard calling her name was silent, but she still recognized it: it was Syaoran's voice. She blinked several times, and as the haziness started to fade, she wondered if everything was clear because the room around was dark. She heard pecks all over like birds were digging into the windows and walls of the school.

Outside the windows, as she saw, was a color of dark green and blue navy. The colors moved rapidly like she was under water. The voice of Syaoran called out to her again, but it was again quiet . . . soft. _Am I dreaming?_

When the sound of thunder echoed into her ears, the blur from her eyes quickly waned. She sat up straight with her eyes frantically wandering anywhere and everywhere. The room was indeed dark. Its lights were turned off and the shadows of bushes and trees outside the window created malevolent images on the walls of the classroom.

Another stroke of thunder roared above, but this time lightning flashed, illuminating the room for one split second. As that second faded, Sakura jumped at fear, and got up from her desk. She turned and saw a round head-shaped shadow staring right at her. She screamed at the top of her lungs and swung a backhand at the figure.

Her heart pounding frantically.

The figure fell down with a quiet but painful groan.

"Y—you _bassstard_." The figure hissed. Sakura took a step back, clutching her school bag tightly in her chest.

* * *

Finished! Yay...  
Please review.  
My other series, "Mujou no Sakura" will be updated this weekend!


	2. Madness Struck by Fear

**Summary:** After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school. Now they have to survive the weekend, help eachother out, and maybe even rebuild their friendship into what it should've been.

**a/n: **Thank you for all the reviews, I really loved them (no seriously, I did!). Keep them up! (please!)

**Review Reply:  
Topaz Tsubasa - **Aha, actually, before I posted this chapter and read your review, I was reading chapter one to see if there was anything to change. I did most of the corrections, and of course, I stumbled across "Mother Nature" that you spoke of. Thanks for the info, I knew it didn't sound right at first for some reason . And thanks for the review too, very much appreciated it. I hope you enjoy this one!

**Genre: **Romance/High School/Slice of Life/Drama/Survival  
**Rating: **"T" for language, violence, and teen humor.  
**Disclaimer: **All CLAMP baby!

**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms  
**By: Shinigami-42-42-564's Friend  
**Chapter Two:  
**Madness Struck by Fear

* * *

When lightning flashed once again, a patch of brown hair disclosed eventfully. Sakura instantaneously knew who it was. So solemnly, she crossed her arms and sat on the top of her desk. It was dark still, but she was able to see the outline of the room, so darkness wasn't a factor as much.

"Li-kun!" growled Sakura. She watched as Syaoran got back up to his feet, then swiftly swung a palm across his face. He twirled around once and held his cheek and nose.

"What—what is wrong with you?" shouted Syaoran. He hesitated to get any closer, now being aware of any sudden action Sakura would take.

"That's for being perverted, you _freak_!" said Sakura. Her eyes were sharp, watching every movement Syaoran made.

"_Freak_?" repeated Syaoran. "You're calling me a freak and a pervert? You just re-broke my nose, you freak." Syaoran cupped his nose from the blood that dripped again. He ran across to the front of the room and tore out several tissues from a box on top of the sensei's desk and held it compressed under his nose.

"Well, it could have been someone else trying to—you know . . . me." Sakura walked up to the front of the classroom to him. "I thought you were—"

"Oh please," Syaoran said interrupting her. As the blood from his nose dried up—for the most part—he twisted up a tissue and stuck it into one of his nostril. "if anything, I _wouldn't_ do what you were thinking."

Sakura looked off to the side. Her eyes wandered out the window once again; it was then when she realized that it was raining—storming hard. She kept her arms crossed, but this time for warmth. She imagined herself being enveloped inside a warm thick blanket, cozy, as she would then lean up against the wall and have probably her most comforting nap in school ever. But her imagination scattered away as another sound of thunder echoed. She jumped, a sweat running down her temple.

Back in reality, Syaoran had disappeared from her sights. She whirled around to see him in between the class's sliding doors. "Where are you going?"

Syaoran sneered a look at her through the dark as if it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. "Well I'm not staying here, that's for sure." Sarcasm in his voice.

"You mean, you're leaving?"

Syaoran shook his head in a dramatic disbelief. _Didn't I just answer you?_ "Come if you want, you're not of my concern right now."

When he left, Sakura stammered to do the same. But when a flash of lightning brightened the room, then a sound of thunder came after, she jumped, making her first step and followed Syaoran out into the hallways.

The halls were darker, as if evil had put a violent curse on the walls and ceiling. Because they were in the middle of the school, there were no other windows to brighten their way. Syaoran was forced to feel the lockers and use his mental abilities to remember the school and make an imprint within his mind.

"How come sensei didn't wake us up?" asked Sakura, still following closely behind.

Though she couldn't see it, Syaoran shrugged. "How should I know?"

"I mean, there was no reason why he shouldn't have—is it that hard to wake up a couple of kids? I swear, someday—"

"Seriously!" Syaoran snapped and turned around to Sakura. He held her mouth with a palm and held her up against a locker. "Do you ever shut up? I'm trying to find a way out here and here you are worrying about something we can't even fix. It's really annoying, I'd prefer it if you went back to breaking my nose, not my ears—"

Just as he said it, Sakura palmed him hard against the center of his nose. A few crack noises and Syaoran was back holding his nose, agonizing in pain. Sakura smiled, then stuck out her tongue, taunting him as glee reached her face just by watching him squirm on the floor.

"Are you sure about that?" she humorously said. "I think you might have to reconsider."

Syaoran got up and examined his nose in anyway he could. But, he didn't dare touch it, afraid that anymore physical activities, even a small tap, would break it even more than it already was.

"A back hand, a slap, a five-pound textbook, and now a palm . . . what is wrong with you?" Syaoran turned and headed down a fleet of stairs to the lower level. Sakura followed from a distance.

"Aww, don't exaggerate it—it was only three pounds."

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

When they reached a double-door leading to the outside, a smile stretched across both of their faces. Urgently, they rushed up.

Syaoran pulled on the door handles, but only to find that they didn't budge. He guessed that it was only jammed, and that a second pull would do the trick, but it didn't.

"No . . ."

"No, what?" asked Sakura.

"It's locked!"

"Locked? It can't be!" Sakura shoved Syaoran aside and tried pulling the doors herself, but she failed just as miserably as he did. "It's not locked, no way!"

"It's locked!" shouted Syaoran.

"What school locks their own doors from the inside?"

Syaoran turned in disbelief in what has occurred. "Apparently _ours_."

He held his arms above his head and took a deep breath. Options ran through his head, but nothing came clear or of choice. It was either something he didn't want to do due to injuries and fees, or they just didn't have the right equipment to do so. As he turned, Sakura still pulled aimlessly at the doors. When her fingers slipped, she fell to the floor and yelped.

"Let's break the window!" she suggested.

Syaoran glared at her as she gave out an asinine proposal. "I'm not going to pay the fine—plus it's storming like hell just unleashed a frenzy upon us, I don't want to get wet."

"So then we're stuck here?" Sakura fell to her knees and sobbed in place.

A calm broke between the two; the only noise there was were the clamors of rain beating against the walls and windows. The rain fell a bit _too_ hard for Syaoran's sense; it didn't seem like rain at all, and it wasn't hail, but it sounded as if rocks were being continuously thrown and would break the windows anytime soon. Then, every now-and-then, lightning would be their only source of light, with a boom of thunder, and if he was lucky, the second boom—the screaming of Sakura—wouldn't happen. The wind sounded as if wolves howled at the biggest full moon ever. Syaoran admitted, it even scared him a bit; he's never heard such a horrid sound before.

Staring outside the doors, he could see distant trees thrash around as if giants were torturing them and they were crying for help. As another streak of lightning flashed and a small thunder roared, Syaoran saw a round object spinning and soaring outside. It spun in circles and then, another second later, came rushing towards them.

"Watch out!" Syaoran dove and pushed the sobbing Sakura to the ground. The round object collided with the window directly in front of Sakura. Glass scattered on the floor and wind began to blow sharp pelting rain through the hole that the object had created. The wind blew even louder, almost claiming victory around a siren if one was alarming.

Syaoran felt a quick emergence of coldness on his back as he guarded Sakura from the cold blast. When he looked back, a small piece of glass flew towards him. He jerked his head back just in time to dodge a full pierce to the head, but the glass managed to slightly cut the side of his left eyelid.

"Come on, we've gotta get out of here!" he yelled, trying to beat the sound of the wind. He helped Sakura get up, almost carrying her, and the two rushed around a short corner, avoiding the rage of the storm. "You still want to go out?" he said, with a little laugh at the end.

The two made their way around a more distant corner, away from the loud clamor. When they felt that they were far enough and where the noise of the storm was nothing but a whisper, Syaoran backtracked and stared off in the area they were just at. Bit's a glass still flew and a puddle of water started to form near the door.

"What was that?" asked Sakura. Her mood was now panicked and almost frightened.

"I think it was a rock." replied Syaoran. "a pretty big one too—" he felt a droplet of blood fall from his cut. He quickly wiped it off and rubbed it against his thumb and index. "What time is it, we need a clock."

Sakura dug in her bag for her phone. Her eyes lit open as the light from the phone illuminated her face. "It's seriously eight-fifty-five?" she gasped.

Syaoran stood in disbelief. "Are you serious?" he swiped another droplet if blood.

"But my batteries are almost dead, I'll turn my phone off."

"Does it matter? This is school, cellphones don't get a single bar of reception anyways." He looked outside another distant window, a different one. The storm didn't seem to ease, and it looked as if it wouldn't any time soon too. "Seriously, what sensei doesn't wake up us? Well, might as well find a warm place to stay, looks like we're spending the night here."

"Are you serious?" yelled Sakura at his suggestion.

Syaoran shrugged. "I guess, unless you have a better idea." He waited for her answer, but when she gave none, he walked away.

"W—where are you going?"

"It's safer in a middle area, someplace where windows don't exist." His voice become part panicked.

As he started making his way, Sakura said, "Are you sure?"

Syaoran turned around and retorted with, "Of course not!" he rubbed his forehead and ran his hands vigorously through his hair. He couldn't believe the situation he was in. Not only stuck in school for the weekend, but also with the girl he loathed. "I don't know! Okay? I don't know what to do—they never taught me how to survive being locked up in school before. I don't know what to do okay? I'm just doing what I think it best whether it kills me or keeps me alive." His voice was frightfully invigorating; it almost scared Sakura.

"I'm sorry, just calm down—"

"I'm trying to okay!"

Another bolt of lightning flash. This time, the sight of blood near Syaoran's eye caught Sakura's attention. _Was it when he—_ "You're bleeding!"

Syaoran twirled around a few times in search of a place to go. It wasn't for a few seconds until her words reached his ears.

"Yeah, you _did_ break my nose almost four times." Syaoran took out the bloody tissue from his nostril and threw it on the ground. He knew that she was really referring to the cut near his eye, but he found it easier to bring back his broken nose.

"Shut up, that's not funny."

"Oh really? You're the one who enjoyed laughing while you broke it."

Sakura crossed her arms and turned away. "Fine, I _was_ going to help."

"Oh that was really reassuring. It kind of felt nice for you to think nicely about me for once."

Striking an angry leer towards Syaoran as he spoke every word with irony. Sakura began to feel discomfort in her situation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing!" shouted Syaoran. "I'm just stuck in a damn school—that seems more like a haunted mansion at the moment—and with a girl who broke my _fucking_ nose and isn't careful enough to save her own _fucking_ life!"

The words came out like a knife to her back. She's known Syaoran ever since the first grade, and she has never witnessed such an explosion from him in her entire life. It was as if he was demonized, taken by an evil spirit and had gone madness struck by fear. Seeing him throw a fury made Sakura feel even more uncomfortable, and closer to fear herself. It wasn't the Syaoran she knew . . . they had their arguments, but it now started to turn out into more of a vocal war.

When lightning struck and thunder roared, a jolt ran through Sakura's heart. The rain seemed to have beat even louder than usual, creating an echoed clamor along with Syaoran's tirade. Sakura dug deep into her thoughts, trying to calm herself down, but only found herself breathing harder than usual. When she stared up at Syaoran, he was still yelling at her, but she couldn't hear his words.

_I'm scared . . ._

"It's not fair!" she yelled. Suddenly, she could feel irritation start to mix in with her other emotions of fear. The noise around her quickly came back.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't say that I wasn't careful enough to save myself," she said in her defense. "It's just not fair! I didn't even see it coming! Or even have a chance to react!"

"E—" thunder boomed, blocking out what Syaoran said. But he waved his hands above his head, articulating a sort of emotion not even Sakura would understand. He walked up to her until their noses barely met, then he continued, "—_excuses_, throw it all away—"

Sakura forced herself to react with a sort of self defense, feeling cornered and trapped with fear running through the back of her mind, she quickly swung a hand across the side of Syaoran's cheek turning his head his to the side.

A large barrel of air quickly rushed out as Syaoran turned back with evil in his eyes. He took one hand and vice-gripped Sakura on the shoulder. Pain quickly ran through her shoulder joints as she could feel Syaoran's fingers dig through her school uniform and into her skin. She screamed in pain, but as thunder struck again, it covered her cry. Syaoran took the other hand and placed a palm on her face, only to forcefully shove her head first into the hard covered tile floor.

Sakura bounced twice and slid several feet after. She was weak to get back up, but eventually made it to her knees. Complete fear was in her eyes now, fear to see a madness struck by fear itself. When a bolt of lightning flashed, Syaoran's face was revealed for a second, and in that second, Sakura could see that his eyes were mesmerized—as if he didn't believe what he had just done.

The taste of blood ran down Sakura's throat. She could also taste it running in between her teeth. She swallowed hard, feeling the thick liquid plummet into her throat. She coughed forcefully, then stepped back while slowly shaking her head, not believing what had just happened.

She hated him, they were rivals, but she never thought that Syaoran would ever do such a thing to her.

Syaoran slapped his temple. He was in disbelief to know what he had just done. He took a step towards Sakura, but she only took two more steps back away from him.

"I—I'm sorry." He said. It was a true apology. "I'm sorry." He reached out for her, but she took another two steps back.

Clutching her shoulder, she felt pang spreading near the joint that Syaoran had dug in fingers into. Her shoulder now felt weak, almost as if she couldn't move it anymore. She had a numbing feeling that started to crawl up from her elbow. Shaking it off, she continued to back step as she saw Syaoran creeping closer to her—his hands still reaching out to her.

"This isn't you." She softly said.

"I'm sorry." He only said again.

"I hate you!" yelled Sakura, still clutching her shoulder. "Where is he, the _real_ Li-kun?" That said, she turned and sprinted down a dark hallway, not caring where she went as long as it was away from the drama that had just occurred.

A quick tear fell from her eyes, but that was it; everything else dried up. As she turned a corner, she passed hallways of windows. The trees still thrashed and the wind only howled even louder. When lightning struck, another sound of thunder roared, making Sakura jump and yelp.

"I'm scared!" she cried, still running. _I'm scared._

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

Syaoran only watched as she disappeared into the dark hallway in front of him. Still in shock at what he had done, he clutched his head and shook it.

"Damn it Syaoran, what the hell did you just do?" he yelled to himself. "Throwing a girl like that?"

He smeared a warm liquid onto his cheek that came from the tip of his fingers. He looked at it, and when lightning flickered, he saw blood running down his fingers and into his palm. Syaoran cursed at the fact that it wasn't _his_ blood that was crawling from the tip of his nails. He stared off into the hall where Sakura had disappeared into and slowly shook his head, taking several steps back.

"I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . ." he said, hoping that his voice would reach her ears even though it was humanly possible, especially with the storm crying how loud it was.

He quickly fussed with his hair and ran down a separate hallway almost opposite the one Sakura ran into. He made his way to the school's main doors, where the rotunda was. He looked outside the main doors and quickly ran to open them. But just like the other door he first tried, it was locked. He shook his head and ran up the fleet of stairs behind him to the second floor. He ran around a corner, making sure that he was in an area where windows didn't exist, then sat down against a corner and thought about what had just happened.

"I'm scared." He said to himself. "That's right . . . _right_?"

_I wasn't being myself . . . I'm scared._

_

* * *

_

Please review, and please help me with corrections. I'm still trying to learn how to use the english grammer. Sensei's in Japan teach it so much differently than they do in America. I actually have to learn from Shinigami 42-42-564 (regular owner of this account) himself.

But I know he isn't a teacher and other aid will be appreciated too. Thank you, and be sure to review!


	3. Imagination and Apology

**Summary:** After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school. Now they have to survive the weekend, help eachother out, and maybe even rebuild their friendship into what it should've been.

**a/n: **Aha I lie, I lie! I didn't get any writing done last week because I was busy watching VAMPIRE KNIGHT!! Then I had to read the MANGA!! So that took a lot of time ;) But I managed to get this chapter done in one day, so please… enjoy! Oh, and Vincento-kun (Shinigami-42-42-564) is actually on vacation, so those who are expecting his update and wondering why he hasn't updated, he's gone on vacation for the July 4th week, so he'll be back on monday and start writing again.

**Review Reply:  
redeyes143 – **Well, easy way to describe it as, he just simply pushed her very hard onto the floor.

**Genre: **Romance/High School/Slice of Life/Drama/Survival  
**Rating: **"T" for language, violence, and teen humor.  
**Disclaimer: **All CLAMP baby!

**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms  
**By: Shinigami-42-42-564's Friend  
**Chapter Three:  
**Imagination and Apology

* * *

Thunder spoke to her and lightning showed her its fury. One thing Sakura never enjoyed in her life was thunderstorms. Ever since a certain childhood incident, brontophobia had affixed in her life and brought misery and fear to her. Under a thunderstorm, she would fear the most, hoping everyone around her is safe and still hiding herself.

Once, her brother tried to erase her fear of thunderstorms by locking her outside during one; but it only ended with endless cries that out beat even the loudest of thunders. She was taught numerous amounts of games and tips that would try to distract her from the storm, but it all failed; her fear was just too strong.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

"—four . . . five . . . six . . . sev—" as thunder boomed, Sakura quickly covered her ears with her hands and sobbed to the floor. She recounted, but was stopped by another sound of thunder at the count of only two.

After running away from to horrid and unforeseen action by Syaoran, Sakura found herself coiled up at the far end of its eastern corner. Every time thunder would roar, she would cry—half tears and sweats running down her face. She didn't know what time it was, her phone had died, and she didn't know how long it has been ever since running away. She wanted to know, but was too scared to move elsewhere.

The storm had not died one bit, if anything it had only enraged. The water pelted like golf balls pelting the schools roof, the winds howled like angry wolves, and the lights that flashed due to lightning created shadow figures that seemed alive.

Sakura forced herself to stare down a hallway. There she saw flickers of light from the lightning and pure blackness the next second. When lightning flashed again, a shadow figure started to emerge from the floor. It reached up into the sky with stick-like arms, cracking where the joints would be. It crawled its way in a horrendous method and made croaking sounds that clicked every second.

"One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . ." Sakura tried to ward her attention away from her imaginative creature of demise, but failed to do so. It walked closer, and all she could do was watch. She was stricken by fear; her body, immobile. "It's not real . . . it's not real . . . it's not real!"

She cried. This time, when thunder boomed, she crawled to her knees and up to her feet and started sprinting down on hallway. She ran away, away from the creature she saw; it was false in reality, but as real and pure in fear.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

"Idiot!" Syaoran called himself. "What the hell was I thinking?" _Nothing! That's what!_ Syaoran swung a fist at a nearby locker, but the sound of the collision was erased by the sound of thunder.

Syaoran pulled on his hair and cursed to himself. "This school's starting to _freak_ me out. I can barely tell where I am." Where Syaoran sat, there were two hallways in view, one in each opposite side of him. There were no windows in the hallways, so he didn't worry about any glass breaking an extra cuts; the only thing he came close to fearing was the darkness of the halls and his actions towards Sakura.

Sighing, Syaoran forced himself to relax against the lockers and closed his eyes. "It's over," he said. "Nothing much I can do about it now—maybe apologize, but I don't think she'll ever get near me again."

He tried to come so several conclusions of why he did it, but all he could think of was the fact that he wasn't thinking, just reacting out of fear and annoyance. Truly, even though he wasn't much of her friend ever since the first grade, he would have never wanted to hurt her physically. It wasn't in his blood, it wasn't the type of person he wanted to be; whenever he would hate someone, he would never want to hurt them.

"—maybe Yamazaki-san." he reconsidered. "That guy can get as bad as Sakura." he tried to laugh at what he said, but it failed. He shifted back into an upright position against the lockers and sighed. "God damnit, I'm sorry."

As minutes that seemed more like hours past, a distant voice entered his ears. They wiggled at the first sound, being out beat by the rain and thunder, but as the voice started to become louder, Syaoran instantly recognized the voice; it was Sakura. _Is she calling?_ Though he heard her screams, he wasn't sure if she was just screaming out of fear, or screaming for him—or both.

He got up and followed the voices down several hallways. Once he got to the rotunda, near the rim if the stairs barricade, he stopped and searched down; her screams were still echoing through the hallway, it was hard for him to pick out where her voice was coming from and the sound of thunder didn't help one bit.

"Li-kun!" he heard. _She's calling me?_

Syaoran clamped his hands onto the guarding rails and searched around the bottom level of the school's main corridor. "K—Ki—Kino-san!" he yelled. After he heard another horrendous yell from her, he confirmed it all in his head. _She is calling for me . . . but why?_ "Oi, over here!" When he finally found her in view as she made it to the rotunda, Syaoran hastily made his way around to the top of the stairs and waved to get her attention. "Up here!"

Sakura saw Syaoran with his hands above his head. She stared back at the dark hallway that she had came through and sprinted her way towards the stairs. She met Syaoran at the bottom of the steps and quickly wrapped both her arms tightly around him.

"I'm scared . . ." she cried. "Li-kun, I'm scared . . ."

Syaoran didn't know how to react; it was all too sudden for him. All he could think about was what he had done to her just moments before during their lasts meet. He felt something inside him urging him to do the exact same thing again, but her cries were in his chest, soaked as her tears ran down on his uniform as if rain had leaked through the school roof.

Slowly, not knowing what else to do, and realizing that she was just another human being trapped in a school like him; Syaoran slowly set his arms around the back of her neck. He wondered if he should feel pity for her for running back to him, then he rethought it and declined to do so.

"Flat-chest." he said. "Stop getting yourself into trouble."

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

When Sakura opened her eyes, she perceived the room that she was in; it was her detention room—the only room that would seem to be open. She sat in a corner, arms wrapped around her knees, which were settled close to her chin. Her stomach growled of hunger, she wondered what time it was. The storming sky looked the same as usual, so she couldn't determine time from there. She reached for her phone, but it had already died. The last thing she could remember was embracing Syaoran and being embraced back then. When she had realized what she had done, she quickly shook her head and felt a streak of blush run across her nose.

_I didn't hug him did I? No_ she confessed to herself. _It was an embrace . . . yeah! But—isn't that the same thing?_

When thunder struck, Sakura jumped in her corner. "Li—" she turned to her side and found Syaoran half asleep on the wall next to her. His head bobbed continuously as if his conscious wanted to keep him awake but his eyes and mind were just too tired.

As she reached over to him, he woke with a flinch. Their eyes met but quickly turned away from one another. Syaoran got up to his feet and hunched over a desk.

"Y—you're awake." murmured Sakura.

"Are you okay?" asked Syaoran.

Sakura paused to give herself a moment to thing. "From what?"

Syaoran sighed and took a seat on a desk, then said, "You were screaming in the hallways before running up to me."

"Oh—" Sakura hesitated. "Was I?"

Syaoran cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean, _was I_? What happened to you?"

"Not like you would care anyways." Sakura turned to the side, away from Syaoran.

Groaning, Syaoran wanted to give up trying to talk to her and to just ignore every aspect of her presence, but for a reason he didn't even know, he continued. "Oi, when you fainted in my arms, I could've just left you there, but _no_, I brought you back up to this room—so the least you can do is tell me why on earth you were screaming."

Sakura raised her head and turned back towards him. _He carried me?_ When she thought about it, she couldn't remember what had happened ever since running into his arms through fear. It was that moment and the moment when she had just woken up minutes ago. _He really carried me up to this room?_

"Y—you carried me?" she mumbled.

Syaoran nodded. "You got quite heavy towards the end—even for someone with a chest as flat as yours."

As the words entered Sakura's ears, she wanted to shout back, to defend herself from his cruel words, but she couldn't find the energy to do so; her mind was still wavering about how he had carried her halfway around the school just to put her in a room. It wasn't necessary, but it was something she wouldn't expect Syaoran to do.

"S—something was coming after me." she answered.

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I know it sounds stupid, but something—a monster—came out of the floor and attacked me. That was when I decided to run . . . I was really scared."

After a moment of silence, Syaoran said, "You mean like the monster by the door?"

Quickly, Sakura turned towards the door, and like he said, it was the exact monster she saw. But, this time it came through the opened door and turned its head. Its dark shadowy eyes glared at Sakura with the intent to kill. Sakura moved back against the corner as much as she could, wanting to let free of what she saw.

"N—no . . ." she murmured. "Get away!"

The creature quickly crawled up to her and raised an arm. Sakura closed her eyes and screamed just as the creatures arm lunged forward. "Li—"

"Open your eyes!" shouted Syaoran. "Open them!"

When Sakura opened her eyes, she found Syaoran holding her shoulders with both of his hands. A sweat ran down from her temple as she looked beyond him to where the creature once was but it was gone. She looked around the room, hoping that it wasn't anywhere else. When she reassured herself that it was clear, she set her eyes back on Syaoran.

"What was that thing—"

"Kino-san, it _wasn't_ real." said Syaoran. "It wasn't real."

"_Wasn't real_?" Sakura protested. "But _you_ saw it too!"

Syaoran shook his head. "No, I didn't."

"B—but you even told me where it was!"

"Listen, it's only a piece of your imagination okay?" Sakura stared at him as if he had just said something abnormal. "It's the dark; if you're scared of it, it'll tend to play with your head—an illusion out of fear, created by you yourself."

"But didn't you see it too? You even—"

"No." stated Syaoran, breaking her in between words. "I could see that you're quite scared, so I thought that I'd see if my assumptions were right, and they were. The _it_ you were talking about is exactly what you just saw, just an image that your head created because you believed that it was real."

"How is that possible?"

"Well, let me see if I can—oh! Have you ever pretended to be sick just to skip school?"

Sakura thought for a moment, she confessed. "Yes, I have."

"What usually happens later during the day?"

After a long pause, Sakura said, "Now that I think of it, I usually _do_ end up being sick."

"The truth is, you're really not sick even though you feel it. I'm not sure what it's called—or if there's a name for it—but it's all in your head. If you force your brain to do something, such as seeing something or pretending to be sick, your brain's gonna think that way and therefore, making you think as if it's actually happening. It happens especially when something else you're scared of comes at you too."

"I—I do have brontophobia."

"There we go; a bonus of why you're seeing things!"

Sakura was amazed at what he had told her. Knowing him for most of her life, she still didn't expect Syaoran to be as wise as he was. "H—how do you know all this stuff?"

Syaoran chuckled. "Someone actually stays awake during class." As the conversation died, Syaoran's eyes traveled the Sakura's shoulder, where he had gripped her hard. He still felt her dried blood on the tip of his fingers, bringing back the horrid image of the brutal thing he had done. His body started to feel numb, as if numbness was his punishment by the gods and ghosts for physically abusing a girl. "I'm sorry."

Sakura stared at him with half confused eyes. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

It took a moment, but she finally realized that he was referring to her shoulder. "Oh—yeah you better be!"

"I don't know why I did it—I mean—I guess—it was all because I was . . . probably scared."

"Scared?"

"I—I don't know . . . I'm just sorry okay? I really don't know why I did it."

Sakura wanted to pout, but after a few seconds to think to herself, she silently accepted his apology, knowing that it wouldn't do her any better to be holding a grudge. "Thank you."

"You deserved my apology . . . I was acting stupid. No need to thank me for it."

"Yes, I did deserve your apology, but that wasn't what I was thanking you for."

Syaoran widened his eyes. "What then?"

Sakura took a deep breath and turned away for a moment, feeling embarrassed for what she wanted to say. "For helping me when that rock flew and crashed into the window—I don't know how you saw it—but thank you. I could've been hurt . . . a—and for carrying me back to this room—I didn't even realize that I fainted—and for calming me and telling me about how my fear can drag me into a distinct world."

Glee lifted in Syaoran, but he didn't show it. The words that came out of her mouth were the simplest and nicest things he has ever heard since the first grade. It felt as if the two had gone back in time to relive memories that were once theirs, but as thunder boomed, the memories faded and he was forced to think about their situation once more.

"You know," Sakura started. "I never knew you'd be—"

"Let's not talk about it." Syaoran interrupted. "You hate me, remember?"

Sakura seeped down to her feet. "Oh . . . right."

"But I'm human. Just because we have our differences and problems doesn't mean I like seeing you get hurt—physically, that is." he paused for a moment. His eyes still fixed on her shoulder. Once in a while, he would be able to catch a small twitch from her around her shoulder spot and he knew that it was a sign of pain that she felt. Syaoran was demoralized. "Can I see it?"

Sakura's eyes shot back at him from wandering aimlessly around the room. "What?"

"Your shoulder . . . can I see it?" he repeated.

Sakura gave herself a moment to think. She wondered if Syaoran was trying to attempt something she wouldn't like, but as she looked in his eyes, it was as if he wanted nothing but to be forgiven—as if she hadn't accepted his apology. Slowly, she began to untie her red hung tie. When she got it off, she used her opposite hand and stretched her uniform down from her shoulder past her pits and stopped there.

It was as if a monster had clawed her with every intent to kill. Syaoran could see deep cuts made from his nails when they had pierced through her skin. The cuts still bled, giving her entire shoulder a bloody smear. He reached out and touched a spot, but Sakura jerked back once he felt her skin.

"It still stings." she said.

Syaoran glowered. He sunk down until his forehead and the floor met; his hands out in front of him as he was now in a bow. "I'm sorry."

"You already apolo—"

"I didn't know that she died." said Syaoran. Sakura froze. "Back then, I didn't know she died. You never told me, and ever since that day, I never got to interact with you the way I used to, so I didn't know that . . . your mother . . . died until a few weeks later when I figured it out myself. During those few weeks, I thought you were just ignoring me. I was young and dumb, so during those three weeks, I was an ass to you. I wanted to apologize after I heard the news, but our relationship never got better—"

"Please, let's not talk about tha—"

"_No_! –I wanted to apologize earlier, truly I did. But you never allowed me to even look at you, nor did I want to show my face to you after doing horrible things during a horrible time. I never got the chance, so then as the years gradually passed, I completely forgot about it . . . I forgot the reason why you became so mad at me and so I took that and started to become mad at you—no . . . started to _hate_ you!" Syaoran took a moment to breathe before continuing on. "I don't care if you don't forgive me for apologizing—I wouldn't forgive myself either for apologizing nine years later."

Tears fell from the back of Sakura's eyes. She didn't know if the tears were for her lost mother or for the fact that Syaoran apologized—this time for her mother's death. _He didn't know? No one ever told him? _Now that she thought about it, she wasn't mad at Syaoran—she couldn't be. She was mad at the people who didn't tell him, the people who never told him on what happened to her mother. She was even mad at herself because she could have told him as well. _No one told . . . you?_ _You had to find out yourself?_

Sakura wiped her tears away and crawled to Syaoran, pulling him up from his bow. "I—I'm kind of hungry." she said, trying to break away from the subject of her mother. But even though she wanted to get away from the subject, she now she had questions rolling in her, questions she wanted to ask him. "Come on, maybe we can break into the school kitchen and get something to eat."

She made her way to the door but stopped at the sound of thunder. The storm had not died one bit. She turned to Syaoran was still stood at the front of the room, staring at her with depressed eyes and eyes that were just dried up from tears. For a minute, the two stared at each other, and then another minute later, Syaoran followed closely behind.

* * *

**Thank you for reading... and sorry if there are any mispells, I only skimmed through this so I didn't quite do the full "read carefully and check" thingy.  
Please review!**


	4. The Little One

**Summary:** After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school. Now they have to survive the weekend, help eachother out, and maybe even rebuild their friendship into what it should've been.

**a/n: **Okay, maybe this'll be more than 4 chapters . . . I'm thinking 6 . . . but anyways, enjoy this. It's a bit shorter than the other chapters, but I also believe a lot more happens in this chapter than in the other chapters.

**Genre: **Romance/High School/Slice of Life/Drama/Survival  
**Rating: **"T" for language, violence, and teen humor.  
**Disclaimer: **All CLAMP baby!

**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms  
**By: Shinigami-42-42-564's Friend  
**Chapter Four:  
**The Little One

The two made their way back to the bottom of the schools grounds and around one corner which led to the cafeteria kitchen door. The cafeteria kitchen was towards the center of the entire school, so there were no windows for the two to fear, but as they approached its double doors, the idea of actually getting into the kitchen lessened.

"Doors locked." said Sakura trying to jiggle the handles.

"Like all other doors in this school." added Syaoran.

As an idea struck Sakura, she snapped her fingers and began to dig into her school bag. She dug out her wallet, then opened it up to grab out her school ID card. Sakura inserted the card in between the doors where the hinge crossed from one door to the other. After a _click_ sound, Sakura smiled and pulled the doors open.

"Welcome to Kinomoto Sakura-sama's restaurant, please walk this way and seat yourself." she said walking in. Syaoran followed behind.

Inside was like any other school kitchen. They had one long oven towards the sided of one wall, a washing station on the opposite end, a refrigerator that stored several sorts of food and a serving window on the last wall. But through it all, Syaoran was surprised to see how big the room was; it was as if something had been removed from the center of the room because of the wide open space. He could've easily played a game of tag with friends if he wanted to.

A dim light shimmered behind him, catching his attention. When he looked, Sakura was kneeling in front of the schools refrigerator.

"What do you want eat?" she asked. "Looks like they have some pasta."

Syaoran stared for a moment before answering. "Pasta's fine."

"Are you sure?" said Sakura turning her head back. "I mean, just because I said it doesn't mean we have to eat it."

"No, really, it's fine." reassured Syaoran.

Sakura nodded. "Pasta it is then." she grabbed a box of pasta straws and dropped it off on a counter next to the stove. She then dug through random drawers and covers until she found a semi-large pot. "Can you fill this up with water?" she asked, handing it to Syaoran.

"S—Sure." he took it. "How much?"

"About half way will do."

As Sakura finished her preps, Syaoran had brought back the pot full of water and set it on one burner. Sakura turned the stove on and held a handful of pasta straws in her arms, clutched in between her chest.

While waiting for the water in the pot to boil, the two stayed quiet; not making a single sound, just listening to the storm that continued to rage on outside, and trying to adapt to the sudden change from one intense and mournful subject to another of no relation. It was an awkward moment for the two. Whenever one would gaze into the eyes of the other, the other eyes would slowly shuffle and meet, and once the two pairs of eyes met, they instinctively turned away.

After another five silent minutes, Sakura felt herself starting to glower, then forced herself to whisper out, "Nine years?" Syaoran stared at her direction as if to ask what she had just said. "Nine years?" she said again, this time louder. "It took you nine years to say this to me?" she was half in disbelief.

Syaoran stuttered before answering. "Y—yeah, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Syaoran widened his eyes to what she told him. "Even though it took nine years . . . I've always waited for the day you finally say something about my mother. But because you didn't know—and nobody ever told you, I can't be mad at you . . . I'm starting to be mad at myself for always hating you . . . and for a reason I didn't know until now. You never knew about my mother's death . . . how did you find out yourself?"

"Remember how we always walk to school and back home together?" Sakura nodded. "And you remember, that when we were late, we'd always cut through the cemetery to get to school faster? I took that route once. Then I managed to stumble upon your mother's grave. At first I didn't believe it, but after spending hours staring at it—it finally came to me that it really was her . . . and that she really was dead." The two shared a long hard stare, and then Syaoran continued. "After I found that out, I just couldn't stand showing my face to you . . . I was young, so as the years gone by, I forgot all of that and started to take your neglection towards me as hatred."

Sakura felt deep emotion in her heart. After hearing Syaoran's story, she still couldn't believe that no one had ever told him. "All I wanted was for you to be there for me like everyone else." she said. "But . . . now that I think about it, you really _were_ there . . . you were trying to be there for me . . . I was just too cooped up in my house crying for my mom all the time that you probably thought that I just hated you."

"I did think that."

"So then . . . this whole time . . . none of this was your fault at all—"

"Don't say that." said Syaoran interrupting. "What I said about your mother was rude. Whether I knew she died at the time or not, it was rude."

"But still. H—how could they _not_ tell you? _You_ of all people!"

Syaoran shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they thought I was too young, and that I wouldn't understand what death was."

Sighing, Sakura stared at the floor and thought to herself for a moment. "I guess we _both_ had a part to why our relationship got so . . . unfortunate. How young and stupid we were . . . and I'm never going to forgive everyone for not telling you."

"That's a harsh thing to s—" before he could finish, Sakura had rammed her head right into his chest. Syaoran was surprised at her action. "W—what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry." she said in a soft voice. "I'm sorry for all those nine years I've spent hating you when you didn't deserve it. Tomoyo-chan asked me if I ever imagined us still friends during that stretch . . . and the truth was, I did . . . almost all the time. Please forgive me."

Politely, Syaoran pushed Sakura away. Her eyes showed nothing but what she had just said and expressed. Anyone would have found it hard to _not_ forgive her. It was like not having the will to yell at something so adorable.

"I will . . . _if_ your pasta is as good as everyone says it is." he used a finger and tipped her chin up and smiled. "I'm hungry, get cooking."

Sakura shoved away all her feelings and forced a soft laugh and wiped away a small tear. "A—alright." said Sakura.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

The pasta was warm. Was it as good as the rumors he had heard? He wasn't sure, but he decided for himself that it was one of the best pasta he has ever had. Syaoran tried to determine if there was anything he could've said to make an attempt to give a negative comment, but all hopes failed. He had to admit to himself.

Syaoran loved it.

"I hope it wasn't too . . . customary." said Sakura. She had just gotten done eating her last string of pasta before setting her plate in the kitchens sink. "There wasn't much in this kitchen . . . so I didn't have much to work with."

After setting his own plate into the sink, Syaoran said, "Don't worry about it, for what the school has, it was del—pretty good."

After a moment of silence, Syaoran took a hold of the kitchens hose and pulled its trigger. He was surprised at the force it had and the water that shot out like bullets was steaming hot. While spraying a plate, he could feel his hand start to burn, so he let go of the hose and gaped with amazement at the school equipment.

"So . . . does that mean you forgive me?" asked Sakura with hands behind her back.

Syaoran turned to her. When their eyes met, he slowly shrugged and said, "Why not?"

Sakura took a moment for the words to register, then smiled, "Thank you."

When another sound of thunder screamed across the sky, Sakura jumped and shifted around towards the tables through the kitchen counters. Now that Syaoran thought about it, their time in the kitchen was a moment when Sakura's fear of thunder vanished. He wasn't sure if she enjoyed cooking, or if cooking is what helped her overcome their situation, but he could tell that thunder was nowhere near her thought and mind up until their silence broke.

He wanted to continue to hinder her fear of thunder.

"Hey." said Syaoran.

As Sakura turned back to him, she saw nothing but a jet of water crushing her face. The force was so strong that she was forced fall back to the floor. When the water had stopped, her uniform top was soaked with dribbles on her skirt. She wiped her face and shook her head.

"What was that for?" she exclaimed.

"You always liked getting wet didn't you?" Syaoran smiled. Before Sakura was able to speak, he squeezed the hose trigger again, letting out another string of water, pulsating at Sakura who held her hands out, trying to protect herself. When Syaoran stopped, he heard laughs coming from Sakura that made him cringe—it was like something from a horror movie. "What a scary laugh."

Before Syaoran was able to register what had just happened, Sakura had jumped to her feet and pushed him up against the sink, dropping the hose. Sakura took the opportunity and grabbed the hose, pulled the trigger and aimed at Syaoran's face from such a close range.

A rush of water flew intensely through Syaoran's nostrils. He found himself dropping to the floor and being sprayed by Sakura. When the water stopped, Syaoran heard Sakura giggling.

"How's _that_, mister?"

Syaoran glared with an evil eye and smiled. "You little twit." He jumped towards Sakura.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

"Idiot, you're so clumsy."

"Hey, the floor was wet and I slipped." replied Syaoran holding a bloody palm.

"You're just lucky the rest of the knives didn't land on you."

"No shit!" agreed Syaoran.

The water fight they had was surprisingly a joy to both. Sakura admitted to herself that she never thought of having the fun she did with the person she once hated. Though she didn't know if Syaoran felt the same, she was sure that he enjoyed it just as much as she did. Even though their cloths were soaked going on damp, the fun they had seemed to relinquish the thought of it.

During the friendly fight, Syaoran had slipped, and trying to embrace his fall, he tried grabbing onto a nearby object, but it ended up being a holster of kitchen knives. One landed on his palm as they fell, but the rest fell flatly around him.

Now in front of the nurse's office, Sakura dug back into her purse and drew out her ID card. She dug it into the hinges and just as she felt the bolt open up, her card snapped in two.

"Well, looks like we're not opening any more doors." said Sakura glowering then sarcastically added, "Great!"

The two entered the nurse's office. Syaoran followed Sakura's instructions and took a seat in the nurse's chair behind the office table. Sakura searched for a light switch, but when she found it, it ended up being a key switch. She groaned and continued what she had originally planned to do.

She opened a drawer and dug out a black bottle with a white cap. After a smile and acknowledgement, she walked back across the room to Syaoran and kneeled in front of him.

Sakura opened the bottle up and poured a strong amount onto a handkerchief, "Open up your hands." she said.

Syaoran did so, revealing a handful of blood that leaked off his hand. "Wait . . ." Syaoran started. "Isn't that—" before he could finish, Sakura had already pushed the handkerchief flat onto his palm. A strong burning and stinging feeling rushed from his hand and up his arm. He felt like screaming, but held it in. When Sakura lifted the handkerchief, it was colored of blood. Syaoran jumped up from the seat and swung his hand around. "It burns, it burns, it burns!" he cried.

"I'm not done yet!" said Sakura in a commanding voice. "Come back here!"

Uneasily, Syaoran found the courage to retake his seat and hold his palm out. Sakura took out a roll of bandage from the same drawer and pulled it out, wrapping it tightly around Syaoran's palm. She finished wrapping the bandage with a knot on top of his hand.

"Feel better?"

"No." said Syaoran. "But I'm sure it will."

"Quit complaining." exclaimed Sakura.

Syaoran sunk into the chair and spun around in it. Sakura walked around the desk and leaned back against it, back facing Syaoran. She then began to lift her uniform shirt off but stopped at Syaoran's voice.

"W—what are you doing?"

Sakura turned her head halfway back and said, "Don't worry; I have nothing to see—remember?"

For a reason Syaoran didn't even know, the joke he once said to her didn't seem as joyful as it once did. Now, he felt hammered, grudged and malevolent. He was surprised at the way he reacted just now to her comment. But when Sakura completely took off her school shirt, Syaoran saw that she wore a small black bra. Was he amazed? He didn't know. He just didn't expect that Sakura would strip right in front of him.

Coiling her damp shirt in her hands, she tossed it onto a chair across the room to her side. Then she took the bloody handkerchief and added more of the black liquid onto it. Just as she was about to lay it onto her shoulder—where Syaoran had gripped her—Syaoran stopped her by holding her wrist.

"You _really_ have got to stop falling asleep in health class." he said. He took the handkerchief away from her and threw it into the garbage. Syaoran then took a spongy coil and wetted it with the same substance. "Never use the same cloth with someone else's blood."

Jumping onto the desk, Sakura stared off to the side, blushing at her stupidity. "I . . . knew that." she felt a cold liquid fabric touch her as Syaoran applied the coil, then a burning and stinging feeling crawled from her shoulder up towards her neck. When she slowly stared back at Syaoran, Sakura mentally flinched seeing that his eyes were sturdy at her face. Their eyes met, then Sakura had the feeling to ask, "Why aren't you looking?"

Syaoran shook his head and made a face. "What?"

"You're trying really hard not to look down are you?"

Syaoran's eyes broadened. "What do you mean?"

"Aww come on, am I really that _flat_ or are you just trying not to be a pervert?"

"That's a trick question and I don't even know why you're asking me this!" replied Syaoran.

"I don't wear padded bras you know—are you surprised to see me even wearing a bra?"

Now, Syaoran couldn't believe the conversation he was having. "Ack, shut up little one."

"_Little one_? Are you talking about _me_ or my _bust_?" Sakura retorted. She flailed kicks towards Syaoran, but after unintentionally hitting him in the abs, she gasped and stopped. "I'm sorry."

Syaoran held his stomach and said, "That's fine."

"I—I'm sorry . . . It's just . . ." she trailed off and stared at the dark ground. Moments later, she felt Syaoran applying a squared band-aid onto her shoulder. "It's just that . . . it always got me mad whenever you talked about . . . me—physically, you know? Calling me 'flat-chested' or even 'shorty', I hated it all. It really got me mad a lot."

After a minute, Syaoran said, "I know . . . I'm sorry. But . . . let's stop talking about this."

Sakura hesitated to answer. "Yeah . . . okay." She felt completely embarrassed to have even brought up the subject. Looking at Syaoran, she could tell that he was just as embarrassed defending himself from the subject. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Ignoring the subject matter, Syaoran noticed Sakura yawning and suggested that they spend the night—or early morning—on the nurse's medic beds. There were only two rooms, but each room had its own bed, so the two decided to each sleep in one room each.

Leaving her damp shirt on the chair she threw it on, Sakura got comfortable in her bed, she began to close her eyes, but saw Syaoran standing in the doorway. She stared at him as he did her and said, "Good night." in a soft voice. She yawned once more.

"Sleep well." he started to leave, but just as he took his second step towards the other bedroom across the room, he stopped and turned back into the doorway. "You know . . . if it makes you happy, they were little, but like all little ones, very attractive."

As Sakura registered what Syaoran had said, she giggled in her blanket. "Pervert . . . you—" as she yawned, she instantly fell asleep without saying another word.

Syaoran laughed to himself. "Night, night . . . little one." after another moment, Syaoran made his way to his own room and fell fast asleep in the bed.

* * *

**Dah! x_X  
Hope you enjoyed it! And don't forget to review and tell me what you're thinking so far okay??  
And those waiting for my "Mujou no Sakura", I've decided to wait that story until I finish this. Writing two stories at once and trying to keep a promising update is just way too hard for me.**

**Anyways, pelase review, and I plan to update this story . . . ummm . . . today's a thursday so . . . Sunday or Monday.**

**Keep in touch!**


	5. Beauty and the Beast

**Summary:** After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school. Now they have to survive the weekend, help eachother out, and maybe even rebuild their friendship into what it should've been.

**A/n: **Alright umm… I'm finished! Hope you enjoy and please review.  
**Genre: **Romance/High School/Slice of Life/Drama/Survival  
**Rating: **"T" for language, violence, and teen humor.  
**Disclaimer: **All CLAMP baby!

**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms  
**By: Shinigami-42-42-564's Friend  
**Chapter Five:  
**Beauty and the Beast

* * *

When Sakura woke up she felt her hand gripping onto something smooth. When she looked down, she saw that it was Syaoran's hand that she held. He sat beside her bed on a chair; his head bobbing repeatedly like his neck would break if he kept it up. A thought entered her mind, wondering why Syaoran was there and wondering more why his hand was holding hers. But when she looked closer, it was the other way around, her hand was holding his.

As she let go, Syaoran jerked up and woke. He turned from side to side as if he was lost. Then when their eyes met, Sakura softly said, "Morning."

Syaoran rubbed his head and his eyes before congregating the energy to say, "Good morning."

"Why are . . . you here?" asked Sakura.

Syaoran's tired mind wondered elsewhere, but as he registered the words he slowly asked, "You mean you don't remember?"

Sakura recoiled in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Sighing for a moment and still trying to wake up, Syaoran answered, "I heard you groaning, so I came to check up on you. You were squirming quite a bit. Then when thunder stroke, you woke up . . . then I guess I decided to just sit beside you incase you got scared."

"You . . . slept like that the whole night?" asked Sakura.

Nodding, Syaoran laughed and said, "I'm starting to wish that I would've dragged my bed in here because my neck hurts like hell now." Standing up, Syaoran rubbed his neck and took a stroll around the small room.

Sitting up, Sakura covered herself, remembering that all she wore was a bra, letting her shirt make an attempt to dry. She watched Syaoran rubbing his neck. From what she could tell, he was hurt and stiff. _All because of me?_ Sakura glowered, then said:

"I'm sorry . . . you couldn't get a good night sleep because of me."

Syaoran stopped rubbing his neck and began twisting his back. "No sweat." He said. "I'd rather have gotten some sleep than be awake listening to you whimper in bed all the time."

Mortified, Sakura swung the blanket to the side and moved to the other room. She found her shirt lying on the floor and picked it up. It wasn't as dry as she had wanted, but she figured that it would have to do. Pulling her shirt over her head, Sakura walked out into the hallways. A yellow and misty glow shimmered around a corner, catching her attention. She made her way there and, through the school windows, saw a bright dim yellow mist outside. The rain still patted hard, but it was as if the sun's rays tried to breach the mist and failed miserably.

Feeling Syaoran's presence beside her, she said, "It's beautiful."

Syaoran agreed, but at the same time felt bummed that it continued to storm. Though thunder and lightning was now off, the rain still hammered miserably.

"But it's still raining pretty hard." said Syaoran.

"Today's Saturday right?"

"It is . . ."

"How are we supposed to survive today _and_ tomorrow?"

Shrugging, Syaoran made his way towards the bright yellow window. He then stared off into a hallway and made his way down it. Around the corner of that hallway, he met the schools foyer room. A long stretch of benches started on one end of the room and ended on a far opposite corner.

Looking through the windows, he could see the schools baseball field. Past the field were houses no less than two blocks away. The thought of breaking a window and running across to a house for help certainly was now an option, knowing that a window had already been broken the other day.

After a thunder, Syaoran calmly said to Sakura, "It's going to storm the whole weekend." He waited for her to acknowledge that as she came up to him, he continued. "If you want, I can—"

"Stay here." Sakura interrupted. Syaoran broadened his eyes. "I—I don't want you getting hurt anymore and . . . I want your company. You know, thunderstorms and me. Even though it's bright, it's still a storm."

Sakura swallowed hard and blushed. What she said was true, every last word. But it wasn't the full truth. On a side feeling, she enjoyed being with him, but what she enjoyed most was having the time she thought she would never have had ever since the first grade: a time to just be one on one with him, Syaoran, her childhood friend.

During the stretch of their unfortunate friendship, Sakura did hate Syaoran. But, it was the hatred that left sorrow within her, a feeling that she had to endure but didn't want. She thought back to when Tomoyo asked her if she had ever thought about life with Syaoran and her still friends; she reminded herself that she always dreamt of that life.

"So please, Syaoran-kun." said Sakura. "Please stay."

Syaoran stared at her mellowed face. Her eyes closed, her hands together in front of her as if she was getting ready to kneel down before him. But her posture and innocent voice wasn't the one that caught him off guard; it was what she had called him.

It was the first time ever; the first time ever that Sakura has ever called him by his first name. Even when they were little, she would always call him by his last name. Now that he thought about it, he has not once called her by her first name as well. Was he going to start now? He wondered if their situation would fit it, but after, what else would he go on to say?

Shuffling the matter to the side, Syaoran walked closer to Sakura and flicked her forehead with a finger. She flinched after the contact and touched the sore spot with her hand.

"Ow," she complained. "What was that for?"

"You're it." said Syaoran.

"What?" said Sakura in confusion.

Syaoran backpedaled and slowly jogged across the foyer. "We're going to be here for another thirty-six hours, why not pass the time with a little game?" he suggested.

Sakura cocked her head to the side, surprised at his request. But then again, it was true. They had had a long Friday night and were only going to endure another day and a half if the storm was going to continue throughout the weekend.

Smiling as she watched Syaoran fly across the room, Sakura couldn't help but to laugh in her head. She was now going to play a child's game, a game that she hasn't played in such a long time.

"Better run!" she yelled across the room.

Would she be able to keep up with him? It was never tested before, nor was there ever an opportunity to do so. Sakura wasn't going to let up this opportunity; the opportunity to laugh and play just like she once did a long time ago. But also, the opportunity to catch up on the years they have missed with each other.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

The yellow mist had cleared but the thunder and lightning came back as thicker clouds strode over the school. It was only a few hours since their awakening, early afternoon from what the two could tell, but the school appearance was dark, not nearly as dark as the night, but a dim day with no lights.

Sakura and Syaoran found themselves back in the detention room where they first began. The two sat down side to side on a far wall across from the windows telling stories of past events that they each had missed out on. It was the few hours they've spent in their situation not talking about the grueling past they had once had.

"—is that really how it happened?"

"Believe it or not, it's the truth." replied Syaoran. "I really wished it didn't happen too, but you know, things happen."

Sakura tried covering up her laugh with her hands. "Sad."

"You can't say that, it's an everyday life thing. It ought to happen once in your life."

"I guess that's true." agreed Sakura.

As silence soared between the two, Sakura sighed. She didn't want a great conversation going still, not now at the least. She thought up some options in her head, some weren't worth asking, but when she found one to ask, she hesitated.

"Have you ever been in love?" asked Sakura,

Syaoran stared at her with stern eyes. "Define_ love_."

"How can I define it? It's just simply . . . _love_."

Giving a moment to think, Syaoran didn't know how to answer. He thought back at every relationship he had with girls. He recalled several, but didn't know if any were the ones he would call love.

"You know, when I think about it, I guess I have." said Syaoran.

Sakura stared at him with amazement. "Really?" she said, exaggerating it.

"Don't say it like that!" Syaoran immediately said. "You make it seem like I have no soul."

Laughing, Sakura gave herself a moment to sigh before saying, "Fine, go on."

Syaoran paused. "Go on? What else do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe her name, and when." said Sakura shrugging.

"Oh please, you expect me to tell you all that?"

"Aw come on, you're over her right? So what if I know!"

Syaoran hesitated for a moment, then shook his head aimlessly.

"Are you saying that you're not over her?" exclaimed Sakura with an enthusiastic face. "You haven't forgotten about her? Left her in the past?"

"Hey, hey don't make fun of me!" said Syaoran in his defense. "You never quite forget your first love, you know?"

Sakura giggled. "Yeah I guess . . . but to think, you actually fell in love!"

"Hey!" Syaoran retorted. "Now you're really making me seem like I don't have a heart."

Impersonating the living dead with her hands out and fingers wriggling; Sakura made an uneasy face towards Syaoran and pushed him to the side.

"Oh, heartless indeed, just like a Grim Reaper, neh, Shinigami-sama?" she then added a laugh at the end.

"Shut up." said Syaoran pushing her back. After a shared laugh, Syaoran cleared his throat and started to make his presentation. "So let me ask _you_ something then: back when I was applying the patch to your shoulder, why on earth would start talking about me staring at . . . you know." He quickly peered down at her chest then back up to her eyes.

Sakura instantly blushed as a strong feeling of heat ran from her neck up to her forehead. Though she couldn't see it, she was sure that her whole face had turned red. She felt heavy, not wanting to answer, but found a forceful feeling that made her.

"I don't know." she said playing with her index fingers. "I guess I'm a girl . . . I—we like to know things like that once in a while."

"Really?" asked Syaoran with aspiration. "Girls really like that?"

"Yes—I mean . . . we—wow it sounds like I'm talking to my mo—"

Suddenly an awkward silence tamed them both; a word that wasn't just any regular word, but a taboo.

For the next half hour, the two were quiet; one trying to fall asleep from the silence, one trying to find out more ways to endure the time being in a more enjoyable manner.

Syaoran's eyes rolled aimlessly, his head bobbed continuously, his mind wandered off into another dimension—things he thought of didn't even make sense to him. He could've sore that he said something out loud, but he couldn't remember it. Since Sakura didn't seem to react to anything, he was sure that it was just his confused thought.

His thoughts were snapped when he heard the hums of a soft luscious voice. He turned to Sakura and saw her with her head up high facing the ceiling, her knees resting below her chin with her arms around it, rocking as if it comforted her from the clamors of the thunderstorm that just started to reinforce once again.

The hum was sweet and musical. As he thought back to his childhood days, he started to become fond towards her hum, then came to remember that Sakura was humming a song from one of his favorite childhood movies.

The Beauty and the Beast.

It was a song that pictured two imperfect beings that met each other due to a faulty incident. Then as their differences started to tear them apart, one saw deep into the others soul, and out came the life that everyone wanted, but no one expected: the love of a girl whose beauty broke into the beast, and the love of a beast who was seen through to the inside.

_This reminds me of something_ thought Syaoran, _a faulty incident: death of Kinomoto-san; differences that tore each other apart: ones knowing knowledge of that incident to one who knew nothing of it; the other . . . seeing deep through the skin . . ._

When the humming stopped, Sakura glared down beside her to Syaoran who had his vision set at her. She wasn't sure if he was looking at her or past her, but as his eyes shifted straight into hers, an answer was given.

"The beauty and the beast?" commented Syaoran.

Sakura nodded. "My mother would always sing the song to me every night before I go to bed—especially thunderstorms. It was a song that had such a comforting and soothing tone; it put me to sleep easily. She'd also tell me the story of how she and my daddy met, saying that their relationship was just a close as Belle and Beasto had."

Syaoran smiled at the story, then cleared his throat and asked, "So, Belle-chan, would you like to dance?"

It was a moment before Sakura cataloged the words and figured that the request was for her. She gave Syaoran an immediate look that asked if he was serious. As she saw his smiling face, she couldn't tell if he was or not.

"Right here—right now?" she asked.

Nodding, Syaoran cleared his throat once again and said, "Well, you _do_ owe me a Dance Star sticker."

Sakura shook her head, not believing that he had brought up something minor that had happened in their past. "First of all, it wasn't a sticker—it was a piece of paper in the shape of a star that senseis would clip on to your shirt—"

"_If_ you danced!" interrupted Syaoran. "And if I remember correctly, _you_ wouldn't dance."

"It was in the fifth grade—"

"I could've cut in line for lunch!"

"You brought a bento every day—"

"But I never brought a slushy."

"Can't you let that go? You know I hated you back then."

"Hey, I was young and dumb, of course I can't let it go."

Sakura found herself slapping her head and laughing quietly. She wanted to roll on the floor and digest how much a silly paper star had meant to him back then. It was true, young and stupid, most of the kids wanted that little star attached to them by a paperclip. Those who didn't get it cried and complained.

Getting up, Syaoran pushed aside several desks that were in front of them. Then as he was satisfied at his rearrangements, he turned back towards Sakura—who still sat skeptic against the wall—and held out his hand with a small bow.

"Belle-chan," said Syaoran, "I'll ask you again: would you like to dance?"

Shaking her head in her incredulous situation, Sakura silently continued to laugh at herself, then said, "I can't believe you're doing this."

"I can't believe I didn't get my star." Syaoran said back.

"We don't even have music to dance to."

"We'll improvise."

"_We_?"

"_I'll_ improvise."

It took another long moment of aimlessly arguing, but Sakura finally gave in. She held out a hand and took a hold of Syaoran's, then as he pulled her up to her feet, she couldn't help but to give out another laugh.

"Well, Beasto-sama, I _accept_ your request." she said, then walked to the clearing of the desks.

The two clutched a hand through the fingers, then Sakura's nose flushed with a blush as she felt Syaoran's hand move down to her waist. She quickly forced herself to ignore his hand and set her own hand on his shoulder.

As the two stepped closer to each other, they were able to feel each other's breaths. Close from body to body, closer than they would have ever imagined together.

"You know," started Syaoran. "That star thing wasn't really a big deal."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You know, now that I recall it—didn't you have a star in the fifth grade?"

"I stole it."

"Figures . . . it wasn't a big deal huh?"

Syaoran shook his head. "Not now."

"So then why the sudden _no big deal_ thing?"

Turning to the side for a moment, Syaoran turned back with half a smile. "Because I want you to dance because _you_ want to, not because of some dumb star."

Sakura stared for a moment and acknowledged his words, then said, "A dumb star that _you_ cried over."

"I'm not crying over one now."

The two shared a short laugh, then as fast as their eyes met, they turned away. "So, are you going to lead?" asked Sakura.

"Only if you really want to dance." replied Syaoran.

Sakura cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Lead, Beasto-sama."

As Syaoran began to hum the notes to 'Beauty and the Beast', they began to move, picturing the music and their surroundings equally, Syaoran lead just as if everything were real.

Entrusting her movements to Syaoran's lead, Sakura closed her eyes halfway, trying to feel comfort in her movements as well as wanting to build a trust in him. As thunder screeched across the top, the sound seemed to have been hindered by Syaoran being so close to her; all she heard were the hums of her favorite lullaby.

She could feel herself being let go of and twirled around, then softly coming back into Syaoran's arms. His grip on her waist was firm and yet unassailable, a slight push or tug was all it took for Sakura to follow his movements. The grip on her hand was as if she held onto angels' hair; it wasn't like any other man's hand, Sakura was surprised to feel that Syaoran's hand was soft, almost in competition to her own.

Syaoran's movements were that of a professional. During the dance, Sakura felt complete trust in him and completely closed her eyes. She felt their movements blowing her school skirt to the side, then as she spread apart and back to him, she felt an even firmer grip on her waist that made her collapse onto his chest.

The dancing had stopped, and just as she reopened her eyes, Syaoran had just finished humming the last few notes where the vocalists would sing, '—beauty and . . . the beast . . .'

Sakura felt Syaoran's hands move from her waist to her back; Sakura didn't hesitate to do the same. It was as if he had grown within their moment of dancing together; now when she looked up, Syaoran seemed taller. His eyes made a bridge to hers, and as Sakura tugged on his shirt, Syaoran bent down until their foreheads met.

Then their nose . . .

The two stood skin to skin for a moment, just as their lips were able to breathe in each other's oxygen, they parted and turned to opposite sides.

"Awkward huh . . .?" said Syaoran clearing his throat.

Sakura felt her blush creep from the bottom of her nose to the plateau of her forehead. She wanted to reply back, reply back with anything, but she thought to herself and approved to herself that she certainly wasn't going to agree with him.

"Are you okay?" she heard Syaoran ask.

She tried to turn to him, tried to face him, but her body wouldn't move no matter how much she tried.

She felt a vehement sensation irking the back of her head. She felt it, then as her legs felt weak and uncontrollable, she collapsed.

Syaoran was there to break her fall, catching her under the arms.

"Hey, are you okay?" she heard Syaoran say. His voice was a hollowed, quiet, and drained. "Sakura-chan, wake up, wake up!" Her eyes narrowed until the last thing she saw was Syaoran above her with apprehensive eyes.

"—kura-chan!"

When Sakura opened her eyes, she found herself still in the arms of Syaoran on the floor. Looking up she found Syaoran bending out over her.

"No!" she yelled, "It's not, it wasn't—" trailing off, she finished her sentence in her head, _awkward . . .?_

"What happened to you?"

Sakura took a moment to focus, then as her eyes narrowed onto Syaoran, she flushed and turned away.

"Come on, let's get you back down to the office, you probably need some rest." Syaoran tried to help her up, but was pushed away.

"It's okay, I can walk." said Sakura kindly.

"Are you sure?" asked Syaoran. "I carried you once, I can do it again."

Nodding, Sakura slowly made her way to the door. _It wasn't awkward . . ._

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

Syaoran watched as Sakura tucked herself in bed. She didn't say a word to him; she didn't even look at him. All she did was compose a solemn face. Then, as she made herself comfortable, closed her eyes and fell asleep just as fast as she had collapsed on Syaoran.

Grieving over what had happened and the sudden drop of existence, Syaoran said, "Get up when you feel better." And left her to rest.

After thunder, he made his out way to the foyer room and stared at the sky which was now as dark as it was from the beginning. But as the wind screamed viciously and trees thrashed, the clouds started to spread apart in a circular direction. Syaoran examined the sky for almost a full minute, then slowly cursed to himself. He saw small objects flying towards the circulating clouds: a few rocks, a small bush and even cans of soda. From every direction, something light would eventual fly from the ground.

"No . . ." he whispered. "Not now . . . not now . . ."

* * *

**Alright! Almost done, hope you're enjoying it ;)  
Next chapter will be the last chapter soo... poof!  
Anyways, please review. And if any questions, I'll reply either as a PM or on the next chapter.**

**I love all of you who have read this and hope you'll be ready to read the last chapter.**


	6. The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms

**Summary:** After a small incident in the first grade, Sakura and Syaoran have always hated eachother. But on one Friday, the two are given after school detention. Little did they know they would soon be forgotten and locked up in school. Now they have to survive the weekend, help eachother out, and maybe even rebuild their friendship into what it should've been.

**a/n:** Ah Finally I'm done! I have such a busy couple weeks so sorry if this update was soooo late! But yeah, thank you ALL for reading and for those who favorited (is that a word?) this story. So, the conclusion has arrived! and after this, I'll get started on Mujou no Sakura ASAP and keep a promising update.

So..

Enjoy!

and…

Review! Onegai gozaii! Last chappie, give me a grade or something, what'd you think of it all? My first finished story!!

**Genre: **Romance/High School/Slice of Life/Drama/Survival  
**Rating: **"T" for language, violence, and teen humor.  
**Disclaimer: **All CLAMP baby!

**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms  
**By: Shinigami-42-42-564's Friend  
**Chapter Six FINAL:  
**The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms

* * *

As the sky only darkened even more, Syaoran couldn't help but to lift a bad feeling. The clouds he saw overhead grew larger than he had normally seen them during the storms. The rain had stopped, but he was sure that it wasn't a good thing—not with the wind blowing and howling like it was. A dying wolf was what it sounded like, a dying wolf that howled as the cherry blossom trees thrashed within the courtyard, blowing its pedals in swirling directions towards the storms core.

A beautiful black smoke and pink specs as a theme—but, also looked as hideous as it did beautiful.

"—no," Syaoran repeated to himself. His arms pulled down on top of his head, eyes twitching in every direction. "this can't be . . . not now . . . not now."

Shaking his head in fear, he sprinted across the foyer and turned around a corner. He made his way down one hallway and into another opening. He felt himself stepping on water, and to his fear, it was exactly what it was. A trail of water rushed from around a corner. Captiously, Syaoran back-trailed it and found himself at square one: where the rock had flown in and nearly hit Sakura.

Water rushed viciously from the hole on the glass door that the rock originally made, only this hole was much larger now. Already, the water completely filled the floor of the entrance hallway, and from what Syaoran could tell, it was only going to get worst.

Cursing to himself, Syaoran made started to make his way back to the nurse's office. He quickly thought to himself and wondered why news casters tend to be wrong most of the time, but when they're right, it's always the worst of days.

When he got to the office, he found Sakura sitting straight up in her bed. She looked confused as if she had just woken from a high-leveled comatose state. Anxiety was in her eyes as she saw Syaoran panting.

"We have to get out of here." exclaimed Syaoran.

"Wh—" before letting her finish, Syaoran had already grabbed Sakura forcefully by the wrist and pulled her up to the front of the office before she pulled her way out of his grip. "What's going on, Syaoran-kun?"

"I can't explain now, we _have_ to get down to a storage room now." he tried to reach for Sakura's wrist again, but she pulled back and took a step away.

"No!" she cried in a demanding voice. "Tell me what's going on, Syaoran-kun, you're really scaring me."

Syaoran shook his head frantically and rolled optioned through his head. "There's a tornado coming." he said. He wanted to add more to make it sound more dramatically dangerous, but time was short and she reacted just the way he intended anyways.

"What!" said Sakura immediately after. "A tornado?" she was in disbelief. Complete shock to hear the words coming out of Syaoran's mouth. It was as if Syaoran was trying to pull a joke out, a joke that would kill her if played right.

"From the looks of it, it's going to be pretty big, so we have to get down to a storage room now!"

"A tornado in Tomoeda?" said Sakura still in disbelief.

"Let's stop questioning it and start moving, Sakura-chan!"

"B—but we don't even have a card, we can't open door—"

"Then _I'm_ kicking one down!" Syaoran, irritated that they hadn't moved another feet yet, took a hold of Sakura's hand and started marching as fast as he could down a hallway across from them. "Come on princess, we're getting out of here!"

Syaoran made sure to stay away from the draining window. For all he knew, the hole could've gotten bigger and the water might have crawled throughout the entire hallway. He thought about, for a moment, to run up a fleet of stairs they had passed, but remembered that higher ground was the worst place to be during a tornado. He mentally yelled at himself for thinking about such a ridiculous thing and he wanted to stop and bang his head on a locker for not yelling at himself.

He held Sakura's hand as tight as possible. He wondered if he was hurting her due to his grip, but he didn't want to loosen up, fear that she might slip out and slow them down. As they turned a corner, Sakura stumbled falling behind on Syaoran's speed. Without hesitation, Syaoran turned to help her back up, then immediately continued to sprint down another dark hallway. Sakura couldn't help but to think about how scared Syaoran was and how hard he was trying to keep them alive. When she fell, he expected him to ask, "Are you okay?" or even say, "Come on!" but he did neither. Was it that he didn't want to waste the second to say them, or he was acting out of instincts?

After turning another corner into a hallway with glass doors and windows, Syaoran stopped in his tracks and stared out the side. His eyes bulged and his mouth opened. His hold on Sakura's hand only tightened as Sakura hid behind his back. She followed Syaoran's gaze out the window and saw a monstrous twirling gust of wind stretching from the dark clouds and down behind the school building—pure with the color of black.

The two almost stumbled as they felt the ground shake immensely. Instantly, Syaoran knew what that meant: the tornado touchdown.

As fear overwhelmed Sakura, she felt a tear of trepidation fall from her left eye and asked Syaoran, "Where are we going?"

Swallowing, Syaoran hesitated for a moment before hearing what Sakura said. He hesitated again before answering, "T—the gyms the only underground room this school has." as he started to run again, he turned back to say, "Come on!"

The gym was close. The school was big, but Sakura knew, based on how much they had been running, that they were close. Sakura was able to see outlines of their surroundings and as they came upon a wooden double door, she immediately recognized that it was the doors that lead to the gym.

Syaoran let go of her hand and took a few steps back, then as Sakura closed her eyes, he ran up and gave it a kick near the lock. As it didn't open, he tried again. After the fifth attempt, Syaoran fell flat onto his back. Sakura suggested that they find another place to hide, but Syaoran didn't care to listen. Getting up, he flexed his arms and shoulders. Then as he charged the door once again, he bent down and turned to the side, using his shoulder. As his shoulder and door met, pain quickly crawled up and erupted within, but the door was now open.

Falling into the room, Syaoran screamed and held his shoulder. He squirmed on the floor for a moment until Sakura kneeled beside him trying to calm him. Slowly, he got up and rubbed his shoulder away from a bit of the pain. After an acknowledgment to Sakura that he was fine, the two ran down the fleet of stairs and into a circular hallway. To the right was an entrance with no door, they were able to easily go through it into the gymnasium.

Across the gym was another double door, a storage room, the place where Syaoran wanted to be. Sprinting across the gym, Syaoran used his speed and tackled the door with his other shoulder. The door flung open instantly, but the pain in this shoulder was worst that the other.

As he crawled in on his back, Sakura followed after and closed the door. She then kneeled behind Syaoran and had his head resting on her.

Messaging his own shoulders, he remembered something that made him recoil. Quickly, Syaoran got up to his feet and started to run out the door. As he opened the doors, Sakura quickly tugged him back.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" she asked, trying to fight through the sound of the tornado.

"I forgot my bag in the detention room." said Syaoran. "I'm going back to get it!"

Sakura couldn't believe what she had heard. She hoped that the sound of the tornado made her hear something different, but she knew it wouldn't happen.

"You're crazy!" she exclaimed. "All the way back up there?"

Syaoran nodded. "I'll be back!" as he turned to leave, he was held back by Sakura once again.

"No! Please, Syaoran-kun, stay! You've already hurt yourself trying to get here. Certainly the bag can't be worth risking your life!"

Shaking free, Syaoran was able to out beat a thunder and yell, "But it _is_!"

The two stood silent for a moment. Sakura couldn't understand why the bag meant so much to Syaoran. She didn't want him to leave her, moreover get hurt and risk death because of a school bag. He had already damaged both his shoulders and she didn't want him to get hurt anymore. As a thought entered her, she quickly fixed her eyes on him and said:

"I'll go!"

Syaoran stared as if to ask her to repeat. "What?"

"I said I'll go get your bag!" she repeated.

Shaking his head, Syaoran retorted, "No! There is _no_ way I'm letting you go!"

"But you're hurt already!"

"And I don't want you getting hurt _again_ because of me!"

"But . . ." she trailed off.

Another silence strode between the two. Sakura's eyes had tears welling up from the back of her eyes as if she was getting ready to store all of her emotion into one final slap. But as time expired, Syaoran tuned to leave once again. Sakura pulled him back around and quickly swung her arms tightly around his neck. Her head mashed against his chest.

"It wasn't awkward." she cried. "It _wasn't_!"

Syaoran heard her cries and knew that she referring back to their post dance. He held her tightly in his own arms for a moment but let go, forcing her to let go as well, and said, "I know it wasn't."

Back stepping away, Sakura held onto his arm, but as she let go, she softly said something that was silenced by thunder. Syaoran didn't hear what she had said, but knew, based on her lip movements, that she said, "Please come back safe—_promise_ me!"

"I will." he promised and left, this time without Sakura holding him back.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

As Syaoran made his way safely back into the foyer room, he looked out the windows and gasped at the sight. The tornado had just finished ripping up the school's baseball field; Syaoran could see the bases twirling within the storm, only flying higher as the tornado made its way closer.

The sound of broken glass made him shudder. In front of him, the windows cracked and broke away, only to be instantly pulled in by the tornado which now seemed ultimately closer than before. Syaoran could feel the strong pull it was giving; his shirt lifted upwards and the trash cans behind him dragged toward the storm.

He cursed and pulled his way around a corner. Then, after taking a short breather, Syaoran made his way up a fleet of stairs and took a sharp turn into a hallway.

When he got to the room, he found his bag sitting on the floor near the front of the class. He hastily walked up to it and just as he picked it up, he heard a sudden crash as if an earthquake just hit the school. But he knew it was no earthquake; the tornado had hit the school.

Knowing his situation and fearing that Sakura was safe, he bolted out of the room. He managed to turn one corner before the floor underneath him suddenly collapsed. He tried grabbing onto what was left of the floor he was on, everything he saw fell. Syaoran managed a scream before he felt his back hit hard against rubbles on the first floor. A block of the floor he was once on dropped right onto his right leg before he could move. Syaoran echoed a pitiful, weak, and painful cry.

With his bag in hand, he watched as the ceiling over him started to break up into little pieces and fly straight up into a black cloud of debris and death. Syaoran wasn't sure if what he saw were clouds, or if he was actually watching the tornado itself. Before he was able to think about answering, he felt a hard pound on his temple and everything turned black.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

Warm sweat ran down his face. His breathing hardened. His heart pounded hard. His stance was weak as he fell to his knees. His arms numb. Syaoran couldn't believe it—no, he didn't want to believe it. It all seemed too realistic and yet too fake. It was too slow and yet too sudden. The name on the tombstone . . . was it real?

Kinomoto, Nadeshiko.

It was.

Wanting to be a false name, but it wasn't. It was real.

"K—Kinomoto, Nadeshiko-san . . . dead?" Syaoran repeated the line over and over in his head until he couldn't remember how to say it anymore. Then another name popped in his head; a name that meant just the same, but more in value at the same time.

"Kinomoto-chan! Sakura!"

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

When Syaoran opened his eyes, he saw a ceiling overhead. He was glad. As he breathed, he was surprised to feel a different taste. It wasn't an awful taste, but it was a taste that he remembered well: fresh air. Staring off to the side, he saw an old man, Wei, staring right at him. The aimlessly clutching his fists, he felt a soft cushion under his hands. When he finally gathered the power to clearly think, he confirmed to himself that he was in on a bed—a nursing bed, though it wasn't like the one at school.

"Glad to see you're awake, Syaoran-sama." said the old man, Wei.

"W—Wei-san?" mumbled Syaoran. Unable to think as clear as he wanted, Syaoran wanted to ask where he was, but instead asked, "Where is it?" the question seemed just as puzzling to himself as it was to Wei, but he corrected himself a second later.

"Inside Tomoeda's hospital." said Wei.

"W—what happened?" Syaoran knew clearly what happened, but at least until he blacked out. But he just had the feeling to ask.

"Please rest a bit more, Syaoran-sama, you still seem to be quite fuzzy."

Without rebelling, Syaoran did just that. He closed eyes and before he knew it, fell fast asleep.

**. : The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms : .**

Opening his eyes again, his vision seemed a lot sharper than before. He was able to feel himself breathe better, and had the power to push himself up to a sitting position. Wei was still by his side and he looked even happier than before.

"How long was I out?" Syaoran asked,

"Three days since the tornado, two hours since you last woke up." answered Wei.

"It really has been _three_ days?"

Wei nodded. "I really started to worry for you when you didn't come home." he waited for Syaoran to make way for his words before continuing. "I was about to call the police, but figured you'd be fine. When the Saturday came in and I noticed that you weren't home still, I acted."

Syaoran sighed. He felt a small sharp pinch on his forehead and reached to touch it. He felt a rough padding on his forehead, then Wei said, "I wouldn't touch that, the stitches might come off."

"Stitches?" repeated Syaoran.

"When the medics found you under debris and concrete, you had a large opening on your temple—the medics were surprised to see you have a pulse at all after _that_ hit."

"I'm guessing it was pretty bad." Syaoran commented.

"Oh, it was."

A question instantly struck Syaoran as he did a double-take towards Wei. It was the question that he had long wanted to ask and answered.

"Please tell me . . . why didn't you tell me about Kinomoto Nadeshiko-san's death?"

Wei stared as if it were the most surprising question ever. To him, maybe it was.

It took a moment for Wei to gather up the will to answer. From Syaoran's standpoint, it looked as if Wei was just trying to gather things to say—lies. After the wait, Syaoran was sure that anything that came out from his mouth would be a lie, why else would it take so long to answer?

"You were too young—"

"Bullshit!" Syaoran erupted. "I was too young then—I'm still too young now! Tell me the truth!"

Wei glowered. "When Nadeshiko-chan died, it was a true tragedy to the family—it affected Sakura so much. Originally, we wanted to keep her death hidden, but when Sakura overheard us talking . . ." his voice trailed off for a moment, then came back. "Because you, too, were close to Nadeshiko-chan, we kept the fact away from you—"

"And so you decided to just let our relationship fall apart?" shouted Syaoran. "Do you have any idea what Sakura-chan and I've been through? That's not even the worst part; the worst part is the fact that you tried to keep it away from Sakura-chan as well . . . but she found out herself . . . just like I did. Kinomoto Nadeshiko-san was a very important person in Sakura-chan's life as well as mine, and you guys planned to make sure we didn't know about her death because we were just _young_? Because you didn't want us going through pain? You believe our nine years torn relationship isn't as painful as knowing someone we care about has died?"

"I am deeply sorry, Syaoran-sama." said Wei. "Our decision was truly wrong."

"I don't think I'll ever forgive you and the Kinomoto adults for making the decision, but at the same time, I thank you. I don't think I ever would have had this much time with Sa—"

As the shriek of a door arose, Syaoran and Wei stood their attentions toward the door. A man with black hair and broad shoulders walked in. His face was serious, like he was someone's lawyer. But the man was a familiar face to Syaoran. He wasn't necessarily anyone Syaoran wanted to see at the moment, but he was surprised to even be given a visit by him.

The man and Wei exchanged nods, then Wei exited the room while the man took his seat.

"And how do you do, Touya?" said Syaoran sourly.

"Sakura told me everything," said Touya, "How you nearly ripped her shoulder open with your bare hands, how you left her alone to cry, and how you sprayed her with water hot enough to cook ramen . . ."

Knowing Touya, it was something Syaoran expected. Touya was never the type of person who ever found a liking to Syaoran, but throughout the years, Syaoran learned to deal with it. He clenched his fists, wondering what else Touya had to say.

"But thank you."

"Have you been rehearsing?" asked Syaoran.

"Shut up, kid, you know I mean this." protested Touya.

"Where is she?"

Touya took a moment to realize that he was referring to Sakura. "Outside in the lobby—she's afraid to see you messed up."

"How has she been?"

Touya made a _hmph_ sound before answering, "She's changed. She's never really talked about you, and all of a sudden this past few days, she couldn't stop worrying about you. So we decided to come here, and she's too scared to see you." he shrugged, then got up. "I'll go get her." and left.

As the door slung closed behind him, Syaoran turned to his side and found his bag sitting on a bed-side table. It was still in mint condition, the tornado had not damaged it as much as it did him.

He hadn't realized it, but when voices came through his head, he noticed that a TV hanging on the corner of his hospital room was on. It was a news channel, and as the camera from a helicopter angled downward, Syaoran was able to see nothing but rubbles and pieces of thrown buildings. Off to the corner of the TV he saw a young women holding her baby, crying just as much as her baby was—probably crying for a poor unfortunate soul.

"—over six square miles . . ." was what he heard from the news cast lad; and that was all he needed to hear before finding the remote and turning it off.

Just then, the door creaked open, and slowly, Sakura walked in. When their eyes met, she rushed towards him and softly wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You're okay!" she said.

Syaoran didn't have the strength to hug back, but he managed to say, "Heard I got hit pretty hard." as she let go, he was amazed to see only a small stitch on her cheek. "So it managed to get down there as well?"

Sakura nodded. "Just a bit," she said, "the first level collapsed, into the gym room, but I was lucky enough to not get hurt—the doors stayed shut."

"Then . . . how'd you get that scrat—" before he was able to finish, Sakura had backhanded him across the face. Syaoran squealed and let out a quarrel of noises. "Not again—what was _that_ for!"

"You said you didn't want me getting hurt because of you!"

Syaoran shuddered. "Y—yeah, so what'd I do this time—" Sakura backhanded him once again, leaving him to scream once again. "Ah . . . Sakura-sama, what's wrong?"

"I got a scratch searching for _you_!" she went back and slung her arms around Syaoran once again, this time, crying for him. "You broke your promise . . . stupid . . . stupid . . . idiot!"

_She came looking for me?_ Syaoran wanted to much but to wrap his arms around her, but his arms were weak; whenever he tried to move them, pain shot through. The warmth that came from her was the same warmth that he felt while they were dancing, but this warmth carried more emotion, more praise, and more of something not even Syaoran could tell.

"I'm sorry." said Syaoran, still clutched in Sakura's arms.

As Sakura let go, she swiped a tear away from her eye and sighed. "What was so special in that bag that you had to risk your life to get?" She reached for the bag. Syaoran tried to stop her, but Sakura had already pulled the bag out of his reach and dug into it. "Seriously, what can—" she stopped, her eyes dazed in disbelief as she pulled out a stuffed bear. The bear was a dark brown plush with frizzy ears and a red bowtie.

"Now _this_ is an awkward moment." said Syaoran trying to calm his nerves.

A moment later, Sakura dropped the bag and slowly began to hold the bear tightly in her chest, her chin resting on the bears head as if it were the most comforting thing ever. The bear was warm and still damp from the storm.

"I thought you forgot," said Sakura, her voice was soft and caring. "But you kept it in your bag for nine years?"

Syaoran chuckled as if what Sakura said was the funniest thing he'd ever heard, then came to a calm as his eyes met emerald and said, "I told you already: you never quite forget your first love."

The words made the ears of Sakura burn with sensation. A streak of blush raced across her face and traveled up to her temple. Her eyes bulged as she clutched the bear tighter in her arms. For a moment she wondered if the words she heard from Syaoran was something she imagined, then eventually she would wonder why she would imagine it in the first place.

Her eyes narrowed down to her feet. _Syaoran-kun . . . me?_ Her thoughts took a lap around her head as if to reassure that she heard exactly what she did and it came from the person in front of her.

She closed her eyes, then smiled, then opened up to see Syaoran staring at her with a smile that never would fade in her life.

Sakura turned around, the bear stilled in her arms, and said, "Come on Syaoran-kun, let's go get some ice cream."

Blinking in confusion, Syaoran tried to move his legs, but felt that they were weak and ended up watching as Sakura neared the door. "But . . . I can't go anywhere."

Sakura turned with a giggle. "I wasn't talking about _you_." she held up the bear and kissed it on the tip of the nose, then headed out with the door softly closing behind her.

Syaoran couldn't help but to smile; Sakura had named the bear after him, and he couldn't have thought of anything that would've beaten the moment he was having. With happiness in his system, he sunk back down onto his bed with his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

"You're not going to fall on me _this_ time, now are ya?"

He closed his eyes and slept, this time, knowing that his once broken relationship was rebuilt—in a dramatic fashion—and will only prosper, turning into what it should have been: seeing each other happy while, at the same time, being with one another.

Till death do them part?

_Who knows._ Thought Syaoran. _But hopefully . . . Sakura-chan . . . my little one._

**.**

.

.

_***pssss***_  
For those who didn't quite get it. In Japan, if you give a stuffed bear (especially a home made one) to someone you really like/love/care for, and they name it after you, it means that the two of you belong together. And yes, they did do this quite a few times in CCS.

**x_X  
**I hope you enjoyed, and THANK YOU ALL for reading, and THANK YOU ALL EVEN MORE for reviewing! Mujou no Sakura will be right on!

Oh! And, there has been an update (story change) in our profile, so be sure to check that.

* * *


End file.
